Latest news with #RitchieTorres
Fox News
a day ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Democratic congressman ‘no longer on speaking terms' with some family over Israel support
Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., told a room full of Jewish students at the Israel on Campus Coalition Summit some of his family won't speak to him over support for Zionism. (Credit: Israel on Campus Coalition)
Fox News
a day ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Democratic lawmaker 'no longer on speaking terms' with some family over Israel support
Israel-supporting Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres revealed on Tuesday he no longer has a relationship with some of his family due to his support for Israel. "I've lost friends, all of you have lost friends there," he told a room full of Jewish students at the Israel on Campus Coalition Summit on Tuesday. "I'm no longer on speaking terms with with certain members of my family." Torres' deep support for Israel has put him at odds with progressives in his party — but the New York Democrat has only recently begun to express frustration with the Jerusalem government. "No offense, but there are moments when I feel like the Israeli government has the worst PR operation that I've ever seen," he told a room full of Israel-supporting students at the Israel on Campus Coalition Summit, some of whom applauded the remark. "If I have like a normal constituent who comes to me, is not anti-Israel, is not anti-Semitic, but expresses this concern about hunger in Gaza, I cannot tell her there's no issue," he said. "I cannot deny it. I cannot downplay that." The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry reports that 60,000 Palestinians have died as a result of Israel's offensive campaign in Gaza to eradicate Hamas, and 154 have died from lack of food. President Donald Trump this week acknowledged there's "real starvation" in Gaza due to food shortages. Torres said that while he doesn't hold Israel responsible for that starvation, "I feel like we should be doing everything we can to ease the human suffering in Gaza." He claimed that Israel is held to a "double standard" because "no other country has been and has been expected to deliver food to its adversaries." Aid has been trickling into Gaza through the Israel-partnered Gaza Humanitarian Fund, which, since operations began on May 27, the group says has delivered more than 97 million meals. That "definitely contradicts the narrative that there's a deliberate policy of starvation," Torres said. However, Israeli forces guard distribution sites, and the United Nations — which opposes GHF — claims over 1,000 Palestinians have died seeking aid through the group. GHF, in turn, argues the U.N.'s aid distribution has been entirely ineffective: U.N. data shows that only 8% of U.N. aid has reached its destination without being looted in the last 10 weeks, according to a Reuters report. Israel has said there is no widespread famine in Gaza, asserting photos are misleading or of isolated cases, but has started to pause fighting in large swathes of the strip for 10 hours a day to allow for a surge of aid by land and air. A ceasefire and hostage deal has so far evaded Israel and Hamas leadership. White House envoy Steve Witkoff is on his way to Israel for negotiations as of Wednesday, Axios reported.
CNN
24-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
‘Adapt … or we're in danger of becoming extinct': See Rep. Torres' warning for Democrats
CNN Anchor and Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash sits down with Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) for an in-depth discussion about the Democratic Party's future and the lessons learned from New York City's mayoral primary that delivered a shockwave through his party.
CNN
24-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
‘Adapt … or we're in danger of becoming extinct': See Rep. Torres' warning for Democrats
CNN Anchor and Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash sits down with Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) for an in-depth discussion about the Democratic Party's future and the lessons learned from New York City's mayoral primary that delivered a shockwave through his party.
Fox News
24-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Pro-Israel Dem says those who won't decry Hamas over Oct. 7 attack 'have no business' posing as humanitarians
Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., an outspoken opponent of antisemitism, said Wednesday that those who refuse to speak out against the heinous acts Hamas perpetrated in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 "have no business" claiming to be humanitarians. "If you refuse to condemn Hamas for the murder, maiming, mutilation, rape, torture, and abduction of thousands of Jews and Israelis on October 7, then you have no business calling yourself a humanitarian," Torres wrote on X. "A humanitarianism that devalues Jewish life is no humanitarianism at all, for it has been hollowed out by antisemitism," he added. The congressman has been a strong voice of support for Israel. "The singular stumbling block to ending the war is the terrorist organization that barbarically began it: Hamas. Scapegoating Israel is so second nature to the international community that Hamas' role in precipitating and perpetuating the war has been all but forgotten," Torres wrote on X earlier this month. In another post on X this month he opined that "Antisemitism is the deadliest disease ever to afflict the human heart." In a post last month, he asserted, "If Israel is the sole country in the Middle East—indeed the world—for which you reserve the label 'apartheid'—then your use of the term is probably propagandistic rather than principled and your purpose is not constructive criticism but the destructive delegitimation of Israel as a Jewish State." Torres has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since early 2021.
